The night is tender

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Tender is the Night , English original title Tender is the Night , is a novel by the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald , which was published for the first time in 1934. The autobiographical novel criticizes the members of the American financial aristocracy living in Europe . The title is a quote from John Keats ' "Ode to a Nightingale" ( Ode to a Nightingale ) , which also precedes the novel as a motto .

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The American psychiatrist Richard Diver, or Dick for short, meets Nicole Warren, the mentally ill daughter of a very rich industrialist, during a visit to a Swiss sanatorium and falls in love with her. Dick is a luminary in his field and has a promising career ahead of him. He marries Nicole to heal her as her doctor and husband. They have two children and in the following years lead a luxurious lifestyle on the Côte d'Azur thanks to Nicole's wealth .

The narrative perspective changes at this point and the action is now described from the perspective of the 18-year-old rising actress Rosemary, who visits the Riviera on a vacation trip and gets to know the Divers. She experiences the decadent world of the rich American exiles and is all the more fascinated by the loving and friendly couple, especially Dick, with whom she falls madly in love. The Divers take her on a trip to Paris and Dick also develops a strong love for her. Nicole relapses into psychosis from the pain of her jealousy and Dick then decides to leave with her and not see Rosemary anymore.

Something breaks in his life, half-heartedly, also for Nicole's sake, he accepts the offer of his Swiss colleague Gregorovius to found a psychiatric institution for the rich. The family spent the following years there, and Dick's mental equilibrium was gradually disappearing. When Nicole, again out of jealousy, provokes a car accident, Dick takes time off to recover. On the trip he receives news of his father's death and goes to America for his funeral. His return journey takes him via Rome, where he wants to meet Rosemary again, hoping that the relationship with her could restore the lost meaning in his life. In this hope, however, he is bitterly disappointed. After this time he became more and more alcoholic . His partner Gregorovius convinces him to withdraw from the clinic project. Nicole is getting better and better. The two return to the Riviera, where the jet set has now unfolded in all its superficiality and degeneration. Dick - deeply cynical and at the mercy of his drunkenness - has to realize that his wife, now finally healed, falls in love with the mercenary Tommy Barban. She divorces him and Dick returns to America, where his trail is lost.

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